5 Examples of Brands that have Mastered UX

User experience is more important than ever for brands. We have now come to expect perfect experiences online with minimal friction and sleek, flawless design.

The result of these high standards is incredible pressure for businesses. Today, 88% of users say they’re less likely to return to a website after a bad user experience. Only brands that offer the very best experiences to their users will succeed.

Some brands are nailing this aspect of marketing, while others are falling behind. In this article, we’ll look at some examples of brands that have phenomenal UX, and why. We’ll finish off by sharing some tips on how to emulate their UX success. Let’s get started.

1. Grammarly — the kings of onboarding

Grammarly — one of the best spelling and grammar-checking apps available — is an excellent example of how to bring users on board. Their emails are packed with information to help you use the tool without being overloaded with fluff or overly intrusive.

Within the app itself, there’s no clunky and length onboarding process — you can jump straight in and Grammarly will help you figure things out as you go. This is incredibly important with onboarding, it’s essential not to drive your new users away with a convoluted learning stage.

Grammarly’s UX continues to excel beyond this, too, working in the background and providing excellent assistance while being easy to ignore and disable if you choose.

2. Duolingo — built for mobile

The language-learning app Duolingo is built for mobile, and this is its entire selling point — it allows its users to learn languages in manageable chunks from their smartphone wherever they are.

Mobile responsiveness is a key part of building a successful platform. Mobile users are 5 times more likely to abandon a task if the website isn’t optimised for mobile, so ignoring this segment of your market is foolhardy in the extreme.

Duolingo is also simple in design and minimises friction by clearly communicating with its users, gamifying the learning experience through features like XP points and badges, and providing smooth and easy onboarding.

3. PayPal — the value of simplicity

PayPal has been a household name for a while now, one of the early pioneers in fintech apps. The site is designed in a very user-friendly way — it’s simple, clear, and contains no unnecessary clutter.

It’s easy to find what you need within the PayPal browser interface, and the same ease of use continues on the app. Even less widely-used features like invoicing work well, and it’s easy to specify dates, locate specific transactions, and integrate with many other apps like Uber.

PayPal’s simplicity is a valuable lesson to other brands trying to improve their UX: less is often more, and users often crave a minimalist approach.

4. Airbnb — the power of images

Airbnb has been helping travellers find accommodation for many years and has somewhat cornered its specific section of the market. Much of this success is owed to Airbnb’s exceptional UX — defined by a reliance on images and visual elements over text.

52% of users say the main reason why they won’t return to a website is aesthetics, and Airbnb has ensured its site is beautiful enough to retain anyone’s attention. There are no blocks of writing, no wordy descriptions unless you seek them out, and an abundance of symbols and photos.

Airbnb’s UX success is also down to its clear messaging (particularly around restrictions and safety measures in the COVID-19 pandemic) and ease of use when it comes to filtering results and finding out more.

5. Google Store — the importance of speed

The Google Store has lots of things going for it when it comes to UX. It’s clear, easy to navigate, and comes with a simple and friction-free checkout process.

One area where the Store really stands out, though, is loading time. Google has prioritised speed, making it easy to find and download the app you want as quickly as possible. This is an important quality today: as page load time goes from 1 second to 7 seconds, the likelihood of a visitor abandoning the page increases 113%.

If you want to drive users away from your site with terrible UX, sacrificing speed is a sure-fire way to do it.

How to nail UX

So, how can you emulate the UX success of these companies with your own brand? Here are some best practices to make sure you consistently crush UX design:

• Always user-test your designs. User testing involves having real people use your website or app before it’s launched and then giving their feedback in a survey or interview. This allows you to find out what they like, what they dislike, what’s causing them problems, and what you need to change to ensure your final design is as close to perfect as possible. Also, remember that testing and tweaking is an ongoing process — it doesn’t stop once your product has launched.

• Ensure fast loading. As mentioned above, users will rapidly flee from sites that load too slowly. Carry out regular speed tests, listen to feedback from visitors, and invest in site design that makes speed a priority.

• Understand your audience. You need to know who is visiting your site, who your ideal customers are, and what they want. This way, you can deliver features that solve their problems, create communication that they relate to, and personalise their experiences. Spend time talking with your audience, hang out in the same online spaces, and carry out surveys and polls.

• Mobile friendly. With around half the world’s population now owning a smartphone, it’s essential to make sure your site is compatible with that format. Don’t drive away customers by failing to make your service responsive.

• Keep it simple and clear. Minimise clutter, avoid needless distractions, and don’t overload your users with information.

• Minimise all friction. Anything that stands in the way of your users enjoying and benefiting from your service (and becoming a customer) should be eliminated. User testing is an excellent way to pinpoint those areas so you can remove them.

• More images, less text. This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule — always test — but many sites rely heavily on blocks of text that are unpleasant and time-consuming to read. Instead, use logos and images wherever possible to create a pleasant vibe and keep things easy.

User experience is an increasingly important concept in today’s world. It’s vital to make sure your websites, apps, and platforms are as user-friendly as they possibly can be, and in doing this it’s helpful to look at other brands that are nailing UX.

To find out how Blue Beetle can help you improve and optimise your UX, along with every other aspect of your digital marketing, get in touch.